Domestic mobile phones have collectively raised their prices, making the iPhone the king of cost - effectiveness.

Mobile Phones Face Across - the - Board Price Hikes, with New Models After March Rising by Over 1000 Yuan

According to a report from the STAR Market Daily, starting from March, the mobile phone industry will witness a new round of price hikes.

It's not just one manufacturer, but the entire industry. Multiple leading domestic mobile phone brands, including OPPO, OnePlus, vivo, Xiaomi, iQOO, and Honor, have finalized their price - hike plans, and some have issued price - adjustment notices to their channels.

This will be the largest - scale and highest - increase industry - wide collective price adjustment in the past five years.

For models that were launched before March, the price increase is relatively moderate, possibly around a few hundred yuan. For new models released after March, the price increase will not be less than 1000 yuan, and some may even reach over 2000 yuan.

The main reason for this wave of price hikes is the explosive demand for AI computing power. Giants like Samsung and SK Hynix are prioritizing the allocation of production capacity to high - profit AI storage, actively reducing the production capacity of mobile phone memory. As a result, the price of mobile phone memory has skyrocketed due to insufficient supply.

In order to balance the cost pressure, almost all mobile phone manufacturers have to maintain their profits through price hikes and configuration adjustments.

Even Samsung, a giant in the storage chip industry, is no exception.

On February 25, for the newly released Samsung Galaxy S26 series, the standard and Plus versions in the Chinese market have increased in price by 1000 yuan compared to the previous generation, and the Ultra version has increased by 300 yuan.

iPhone is Less Affected and Becomes the King of Cost - effectiveness

In this situation, the iPhone, which has always been positioned in the mid - to - high - end market, has become the most stable one.

Guo Mingji said that Apple will try its best to avoid price hikes. The starting price of the standard version of the iPhone 18 will remain at 5999 yuan, the same as the iPhone 17. The large - storage versions such as 512GB/1TB may have a moderate price increase.

Netizens joked: The iPhone has actually become the king of cost - effectiveness!

Different from domestic mid - and low - end mobile phones, the proportion of memory cost in the iPhone is very low. This is Apple's most core "anti - price - hike" advantage.

According to UBS analysis, the memory of the iPhone only accounts for 8% - 10% of the component cost, while in mid - and low - end mobile phones, this proportion reaches 30% and is still increasing.

In addition, Apple has a high bargaining power in the supply chain. Through cooperation agreements with suppliers such as Kioxia, it has obtained relatively favorable prices in advance.

Moreover, Apple has pre - ordered about 13 million 10nm LPDDR5X memory chips from Samsung, which are scheduled to be delivered in the second quarter of this year for the iPhone 18 series.

In the short term, the iPhone has avoided the price - hike wave, and it's okay not to increase the price.

Of course, it has a high original price and a large profit margin. The increased cost of memory only means a little less profit for it.

Thousand - Yuan Mobile Phones May Exit the Market

However, the remaining mobile phone manufacturers may have a tough time.

First of all, for models priced below 2000 yuan, the gross profit margin is generally less than 10%. After the increase in memory cost, selling one unit results in a loss, and the more you sell, the more you lose.

If brands want to continue making money, they either have to reduce the configuration or exit the thousand - yuan mobile phone market and focus on higher - priced segments.

For mid - range models priced between 2000 and 4000 yuan, users are highly sensitive to price. A price hike will directly affect their purchasing decisions, which means they will suffer a double blow to sales and profits.

Recently, it was reported that Meizu's mobile phone business will officially withdraw from the market in March. Looking on the bright side, it can be seen as a way to avoid the price - hike wave from another perspective.

What's more terrifying is that this round of price hikes will last for 2 - 3 years and will not return to normal until 2028.

As consumers, this may be the last chance before the price - hike wave. You either buy now or have to wait for several years.

This article is from the WeChat official account “Technology Daily Push” (ID: apptoday). The author is Technology Daily Push. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.